


Monokuma, Shirogane. “Chapter Five: How to Kill an Assassin” (Danganronpa 53 Concept Book), pp. 596-599.

by bee (keebiki)



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Maki-centric, Minor Harukawa Maki/Momota Kaito, chapter 5, i thought the title is funny its not actually a deep or cool fic, punishment time, the soul of oumasai is there if u can believe it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:55:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26004526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keebiki/pseuds/bee
Summary: in an attempt to follow through with ouma’s plan after momota’s reveal, the vote rings up as Harukawa.
Kudos: 5





	Monokuma, Shirogane. “Chapter Five: How to Kill an Assassin” (Danganronpa 53 Concept Book), pp. 596-599.

**Author's Note:**

> this is for a zine application in that i wrote way too much and lifted 300~ words from this but i was like hell lets just post this too. writing this under the divergence that shuichi and the Gang agreed on some points about ‘what about maki’ that monokuma didn’t really catch and for Reasons (idk maybe actually going along w kokichis thought process vs kaitos) voted her as the killer but instead of breaking the game monokuma goes ‘to hell with it’ and she actually gets executed (its a ficlet who needs this much backstory). content warnings in the end notes

But when the vote rings up as Harukawa, the obnoxious fanfare of the false jackspot stops. The newly-reappeared Monokubs don’t seem to be completely aware of the confusion at first — but for all of a minute that feels like hours, there is a heavy silence so thick that their weakening chatter and the soft whirrs of Kiibo’s machinery are thundering. 

Monokuma’s face is perfectly blank, and he looks truly like the inanimate stuffed toy that he should be. Each Ultimate excluding Momota’s face is grim, firm in their choice and anxious in its dangerous novelty. Where Momota’s bloody, horrified eyes flit between the real Harukawa and her pixelated form on the screen, Harukawa stares resolutely up at Monokuma. There is challenge in her eyes, and the smallest hints of guilt and fear. 

The Monokubs start to unsettle as they realize that this is more than a minor mistake. One by one, they begin to titter nervously, Monosuke piping up with a “What’s the big deal, pops?” and Monophanie laughing to break the tension. No one pays them any attention, but the air begins shifting from just extremely tenuous to something foreboding, crushing in a way that felt a long time coming, like the last thirty seconds in a bomb timer that had been set for 24 hours. 

And the peak is reached when Monodam jumps up and—

“FATHER, WHY-HAVEN’T-YOU-BEGUN-THE KILLER’S-PUNISHMENT, YET?” 

Something breaks here and everyone knows it. Monokuma, finally, turns away from the screen to look at Monodam, to look at his hammer, to look at each Ultimate in turn until he reaches Harukawa. ( _No one sees the slightest incline of Shirogane’s head.)_ The thirty seconds are over, and suddenly there is a target painted over Harukawa’s framed face in hot pink.

Monokuma’s mismatched eyes bore into Harukawa and he smiles. 

“Huh...you’re right!” And before anyone even has a chance to stiffen — 

“It’s…PUNISHMENT TIME!”

Chaos breaks out at once. Choked gasps and frantic interrogations sear through the room as everyone cries to make sense of what is happening, what went wrong. Saihara’s sheet-white gape is completely ignored. Momota vaults over the podiums but Monokuma’s hammer is already swinging down and Harukawa is already gone by the time he crashes into her newly standing death portrait.

Arcade noises chirp amiably while Momota picks up the pieces of Harukawa’s stand, wheezing, and everyone’s gaze swivels to the screen. They don’t even see her pixel sprite dragged across the screen — all that appears is a funky-font of “GAME OVER” flashing rhythmically over and over.

When the screen transitions back to live video, Harukawa already stands spine straight in a red-lined circle, the square room sparingly lit with a single fluorescent bulb and painted slate grey. An electronic notice hangs next to the door behind her reading “TESTING: ASSASSINATION CLASSROOM 401 FINAL EXAM”. 

Inside everyone’s mind is an unsaid, collective question: _How do you punish a trained assassin?_

There is a close-up of Harukawa’s face as she breathes, steady. Her expression, her body language, reveals nothing. She does not look afraid.

She stays like this, even when her little circle begins to ascend. The red-line disappears and in its gap a thin, clear shield rises, rises until it reaches the ceiling, encircling Harukawa and the singular bulb. Nothing happens for one long second, and no one but Harukawa breathes. And in the next, water begins gushing into the space, flooding to her ankles and drenching her hair at an alarming rate, a speed that should not be possible: there is no visible source. 

The cage-turned-tank is filled in seconds, and the waterline only stops a few centimeters below the bulb. The width of the tank is narrow, too narrow for Harukawa to swim up, and she floats suspended and unbothered in the precise middle. The audience sighs, relieved, in that she had narrowly missed electrocution and had likely experienced this scenario before. _How do you hurt a victim of a cult?_

Minutes pass and no one notices an almost colorless liquid cloud through the water except a wordless Saihara, and no one realizes anything is wrong when Harukawa’s eyes bulge and snap shut. Her nose begins to turn red and her legs squeeze shut, and they think this is normal for a near-drowning experience. What they do notice is the thin metal spikes that shoot through the tank into Harukawa lower abdomen, her forearms, her calves, and retract, barbed, into the quickly bloodying water. They hear her muffled screams, but they don’t feel the extent of her pain - the water has become concentrated into 91% isopropyl alcohol. 

She begins to slump in the tank, limbs slackening but seizing every few moments, and she drifts down as the nebula of blood blooms over her head. It is like this for a minute and everyone begins to assume the worst. 

But just as the first tears begin to flow, the tank suddenly shatters, her shaking fist surrounded by a multitude of cracks that open into complete destruction as the ‘water’ floods out. Harukawa sprawls over the circle, triumphant, hurting, and dry-eyed as she opens her mouth to scream. Instead, a .45 caliber bullet shoots from out-of-screen through her head, and she’s dead before she hits the ground. The electronic notice on the wall changes imperceptibly as the screen begins to darken, reading “TEST FAILED: INSUFFICIENT UNDERSTANDING OF FIRST AID”. 

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> \- danganronpa execution typical mentions of blood  
> \- near drowning  
> \- poisoning and irritation from non lethal cuts being submerged in an alcohol solution (? idk i took a lot of liberties bc thats execution culture)  
> \- mcd by gun
> 
> descriptions of violence arent that vivid imo bc i had to keep to a word limit but its still pretty there. not proofread or betaread LOL ill edit later maybe


End file.
